Starting Up

Dow Plans Multiple Materials Production Units on Gulf Coast

From: Plastics Technology
Issue: April 2013

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Several new specialty material production units will be build on the U.S.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Several new specialty material production units will be build on the U.S. Gulf Coast by Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich. Dow also has joined ChevronPhillips and ExxonMobil in announcing its own plans to build new PE capacity somewhere in the Gulf Coast. (The other two firms announced plans for new PE capacity of 2.2 billion and 3 billion lb/yr, respectively by 2017.) Dow has not disclosed the capacity or completion date. All of this planned PE activity is linked to cost-advantaged feedstocks from increasing supplies of shale gas in North America.

Dow’s other announced facilities, which are in the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase, will be completed in 2014. They are all materials in Dow’s fastest growing market segments, including: packaging; hygiene and medical; electrical and telecommunications; transportation, sports and leisure; and consumer durables: